Lapland

[Olof_imp]

D+6. Today we rode to Fatmomakke. It's is the most prominent Sami sacred village in Sweden and one of the best preserved in the world. The place has for thousands of years been an important spiritual place and is still used as a cultural meeting place. The oldest buildings date back to the end of the 16th century but most buidlings are from the beginning of the 18th.





The roads here are gravel, varying between hard and grippy and quite loose. We found the sign of 65 North. No souvenir shop. No café. No sculpture for taking selfies with. No traffic. Just the sign. Us. And the gnats.



In an attempt to be a bit more outdoorsy and embrace nature we followed a particularly loose gravel.road to Marsliden, the starting point for one of the trails, with the ambition to spend a quiet day on the mountain. By the time we got there, the gnats, heat and relentless sun had convinced us that we'd rather go for ice cream. We got the picture, jumped on the bike and skidded back to Saxnäs and our trusty grpcery store. Which of course has an ice cream machine.

[GoldOxide_imp]

Looks like for some fun ADV riding. Nice.

[Stichill_imp]

Beautiful landscape! I love the lake views. Made me wonder why any Swedes ever emigrated to the New World in the 1800s...but maybe it was the bugs!

P.J. O'Rourke once went "back to nature" by walking out into the woods completely naked. His conclusion: nature itches!

I think that insect swarms are pretty common to all northern latitudes in the summer. The insects have a short time to "do their thing" and they make the most of it while they can!

Probably not a solution for when you're out on the bikes, but when stopped for the night or out hiking, Thermacell is amazing. We took them to northern Minnesota, also home to an insect Air Force, and we were completely untroubled by the mosquitoes and gnats. Best part is no chemicals on your skin. There's a slight odor but it is very mild and not offensive. The system works by means of a butane cannister that burns catalytically to create a tiny heat source. This heats up the blue pad until it emits the repellent that drives away the pests. They are very lightweight and clip on your belt. You will forget they are on you.

[Olof_imp]

@Cormanus: yes the scenery is truly stunning, also up close we were amazed by the freshness and beauty. Drinking the water straight from the streams is not only fine but also very tasty. At the same time it's an unforgiving harsh environment, especially in winter - the hardships that early settlers had to endure are unbelievable.

@Goldoxie: absolutely, ADV riding should be top here in terms of wildlife. However, there are not really that many roads around. These two phone screenshots, from the Swedish Transport Administration site, perhaps illustrate this. The top image portrays the Saxnäs area, Lapland, and the bottom image portrays the Helsingborg area, Skåne (where we live), with same scale - 1:750000 which roughly translates to 100 km horizontally across the images (I have no idea why the images end up with different sizes in the post but in reality these are the same so just mentally enlarge the Skåne image, sorry for that). Red lines are tarmac roads and blue lines are gravel roads. There simply aren't any roads up north. The difference corresponds pretty well with the population density - in Lapland less than one person per square kilometer, compared to 107 in Skåne (which happens to equal the average population density for Europe).




@Stitchill: Thermacell looks interesting. I admit that the mosquitoes bothered us more than we had expected and after a few days with constant application of chemicals on your skin - which goes straight into your blood - we were quite happy to leave that behind us. So, we'll look into this. Thanks!

[pdedse]

I didn't know the mosquitos were such an issue!

Very cool to see your area of the world, Olof...thanks for posting the photos.

[Olof_imp]

Impressions of food and drink in Lapland, compared to what we are used to: Less pork and more fish and reindeer. Smoked, dried and canned. Lots of flatbread in various forms. Beer more often than wine. Many take their coffee black unfiltered with a pinch of salt and there even is a special brand, Lemming Coffee, which comes with a little envelope with - allegedly -special salt. Our typical breakfast: muesli, sour milk and self picked wood strawberries. This however I suspect gives us away as city people since breakfast here often is a much more substantial meal, often with porridge, bread, cheese and coffee. Lots of coffee, strong and black. Eva takes her coffee with milk but this may be considered a bit soft. Sugar, on the other hand, seems to be fine. No logic there.



Some common dishes. Top: potatoe pancake with bacon, pressed cucumber, lingonberries. Middle: smoked pork loin with potatoe salad, tomatoes and a local beer. Bottom: Hash browns with whitefish roe, red onion and sour creme.

[GoldOxide_imp]

What fine cuisine before, during and after a motorcycle tour.

[Olof_imp]

D+7. Last day in Saxnäs. We visited a Sami knife maker and got these. Finnish blades (from a friend) and the rest sourced locally; handles of reindeer horn and birch. There were at least twenty knives to choose from, each different in shape and combination of materials. None of the knives had guards (for preventing the hand to slip from the handle onto the blade). She - because the knife maker was a she - smiled when we asked and explained that guards are considered to be for children only.



We also learnt that knives are an important part of Sami life. Most have several knives, specialized knives as well as knives for general use. Different areas and families often have their own ecorations and ornaments. Knives are also considered to have magical capacities and there are rites for healing and love involving knives.

D+8. Departure. We had booked our next overnight stay at the Salsåker mansion by the Baltic coast. This would be a 400 km ride on roads that we had been warned were pretty bad in parts. In addition the forecast predicted a particularly hot day, peaking at 28-30 degrees Celcius mid-afternoon. So, in order to be done riding around lunch we took off early. This was taken 03:58 a.m., right before helmet on and engine start up..

[Houtman_imp]

The food looks VERY nice !

[Cormanus]

The food looks delicious and the photos of it are excellent as well.